Superhero Movie Numbers

July 30, 2012: The Dark Knight Rises is now at $537 million USD for worldwide grosses. Apparently these accumulating numbers signal that the effects from the Aurora Movie Theater killings is lessening, and Nolan's film is starting to recapture momentum. Worldwide earnings are piling up, and all of this while Warner's is trying to mitigate negative exposure vis-a-vis the shootings by dropping nearly all of the promotional glitz that accompanies high-profile blockbuster movies.

JUNE 2011: TheGreen Lantern film, based on the age-old DC Comics property, wins out the lead on it's premier weekend ($52.7 million), but many a film industry person has noted that the $300 million* dollar movie has brought in less the opening weekend than the two previous hero movies already this summer: X-Men: First Class ($56 million) and Thor ($66 million.) Wth a relatively poor showing, hope at Time-Warners is probably shifting to international grosses to pick up the slack.

Looking forward at future releases, though, the trouble is this: X-MEN: First Class has wobbled to a $317 million worldwide finish, which puts it behind all of the previous three X-Men movies and the Wolverine prequel. So the movie-people are asking if this means costume heroes are waning in appeal?